Fred Cooley (1941)

COOLEY, ROBY

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler
Date: 6/18/2007 at 09:12:15

The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday August 20, 1941

FRED COOLEY DIES WHEN HIT BY CAR

State Highway Patrolman Raymond Conner Was Behind Wheel

Fred Cooley, elderly Truro farmer, was instantly killed last Saturday night when he was struck by a car as he was walking on highway No. 251 just east of Truro.

The car was driven by State Highway Patrolman Raymond Conner, and Sheriff A. E. Null of Winterset and Gerald Hogue of Truro were passengers. Null and Conner had been called to Truro to take custody of Hogue, who had been arrested there on charges of drunken driving. They had started the return trip when the accident occurred. Colley was walking on the highway and was hit just after the patrol car had met an on-coming automobile. Patrolman Conner was unable to see the pedestrian through the headlights of the oncoming car and the dust raised by it. Cooley suffered a broken neck and a fractured skull.

A coroner's inquest into the death, called by Null, was held at Truro Monday morning, in charge of County Coroner J. F. Veltman. The jury was composed of Frank Burt, W. H. Holmes and Bert Patterson, all of Truro. After hearing testimony, and making an investigation, the jury returned a verdict absolving Patrolman Conner of any blame in the accident.

It was reported at Truro that Cooley, who was 76 years of age, had narrowly escaped being hit many times previously, and at one time was hit by a car driven by Frank Davis, but escaped serious injury. On another occasion, a car driven by Fred Reed, Jr., was swerved into a ditch in order to avoid hitting Cooley, causing injury to several boys.

Cooley, who was not married, was widely-known in the southeast part of Madison county. Immediate surviving relatives are three brothers, George Cooley of Truro, and two living in Missouri, and a sister, Mrs. Anna Roby of Truro.

Funeral services were held Monday from the Kale funeral home in Truro, in charge of the Rev. C. P. Shepard. Burial was made in Young cemetery in that community.

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